Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Charters

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Fishing Report

September 5, 2008

Complements of Mosquito Creek Outdoors, Apopka, FL

What is black and orange and makes love for days at a time, and its lover is the last thing going through its mind as it splatters on your windshield? If you guessed the unspeakable love bug, you are absolutely right. We have all heard the saying “match the hatch”, but on the east coast of Florida, the dreaded love bug hatch is not so good for the paint job on your car, but it’s actually a good thing as it equates to fishing. No, we do not tie and use love bug flies to catch fish, but the hatch does signals the end of summer and the beginning of the fall fishing season. Shorter days, cooler nights, and prevailing easterly breezes all mark the beginning of the fall bait run as hordes of baitfish, primarily silver mullet, and predatory species begin their southerly migration along the beach and through the Indian River Lagoon system.

This past week, mullet have been forming up in the lagoon and good reports of redfish, sea trout, ladyfish, tarpon, and snook have been coming from all areas of the Lagoon. The heavy rainfall deposited by Tropical Storm Fay has flushes both finger mullet and minnows out of the backwater creeks and impoundments into the lagoon, and the predators have pinned the baitfish up against the shoreline taking advantage of the deeper water. The deeper water also facilitates the drafts of our flats skiffs, allowing us easy access to areas we would not normally float, so push in as close to the shoreline as you can and watch for feeding activity in close and minnows showering on the surface in an attempt to escape.

Captain Ron Presley with a Respectable Osceola Barramundi

Robert Proudly Displays His Barramundi

Although I did not fish much this past week, I did have the opportunity to visit the Osceola Outback Adventures is Saint Cloud, Florida along with some good friend to research an article scheduled for the October or November Coastal Angler Magazine Orlando, man it’s a tough job. The team consisted of Captain Ron Presley and his grandson Robert, Captain Tom Carver, Charlie McCullough, Mark Blyth, and yours truly. If you haven’t heard of the Osceola Outback before, it a fish farm where of all things, they raise Australian barramundi. Barramundi are a close relative to the common snook, but they are farm raise and sold primarily as a food stock. For a fee you and your guest (up to four anglers) can catch barramundi without even leaving Central Florida. We met the sight manager Byron Hennecy and our guide Joey around 1:30 in the afternoon, and by 3pm together we had caught over 50 fish ranging from 7 to 12 pounds. For more details on this expedition, watch for the complete article in the October issue of the Greater Orlando Coastal Angler Magazine or contact Byron Hennecy at Cell: 407-908-3216 or Byron@OsceolaOutback.com.

In closing, please say a prayer for the safely of those in the path of Hurricane Ike as he swings through the Gulf of Mexico, and have a great week of fishing.

Visit www.mosquitocreekoutdoors.com for your outdoor adventure needs, its Where the Adventure Begins!

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Fishing Forecast

September, 2008

Complements of Mosquito Creek Outdoors, Apopka, FL

As hurricane season progresses and the summer squalls move north in the Atlantic, the prevailing summer breezes will begin to switch from the southeast to the northeast. This transition signals the beginning of the fall migration of all critters preferring warmer climates. These gradual shifts also marks the beginning of the fall fishing season as hordes of baitfish, primarily silver mullet, and predatory species begin their southerly migration along the beach and through the Indian River Lagoon.

In my experience, baitfish move south in pulses or waves, rather than a continuous flow, so finding the bait is the key to catching fish. One day a particular location will be loaded with bait, and the next day they will be gone. It's hard to predict the magnitude and duration of the run, but it recent indications prove true, this years run will start early, and like last year, progressing into October and November. Currently bait pods are forming up in all areas of the lagoon, and small concentration of baitfish have already made their presence known around the Port Canaveral jetty and along the beach in the Sebastian area.

Look for snook, tarpon, redfish, bluefish, jack crevalle, Spanish mackerel, sharks, and large kingfish crushing and shadowing bait pods all along the beach. The bait pods are easily located by watching for birds diving and fish working the bait on the surface. Once you've located the bait concentration, simply determine its direction of movement, usually south, and set up in front of it and let them come to you. This is also my preferred time of year to target tarpon and snook along the beach.

The beach snook run has already started with a few fish being reported, and it will begin to pick up substantially, just in time for the opening of snook season on September 1st. When fishing from the beach, I prefer using live finger mullet as bait, match the hatch. Fish the very edge of the beach, just beyond the whitewater, and walk along the beach letting your bait drift along in the direction of tidal flow. This technique will allow bait to cover more ground and help keep your bait in the strike zone.

Near-shore, good numbers of kingfish will continue to work the beaches, Port Canaveral buoy line, and the inshore reefs and wrecks in 70 to 120 feet of water. When targeting kingfish, slow trolling live pogies (Atlantic menhaden) on stainless steel stinger rigs is the preferred method. Also as the water temperatures cool, look for the large rays to move into shallower water bringing cobia with them. In Port Canaveral and Sebastian Inlet look for flounder, mangrove snapper, redfish and snook around the jetties and other structures, and tripletail, barracuda, and cobia under the Canaveral buoy cans.

Inshore, sea trout are still plentiful on the deeper edges of the grass flats, with the best bite happening at first light and sunset. Also look for ladyfish, tarpon, and jacks to be mixed in. When targeting these fish, work top water plugs for explosive action. Near the end of the month, start looking for the pompano and flounder to begin moving out of the lagoon through the inlets into the near shore waters along the beach. Also watch for the larger redfish to begin forming up just outside Sebastian Inlet feeding on small baitfish and small blue crabs washing out with the tide.

In closing, I would like to thank all of you who enjoy angling on Florida’s east central coast for your courteous and respectful treatment of the resource, other anglers, and the sport, and as always, if you need information or have questions, please contact me.

Good Luck and Good Fishing,

Captain Tom Van Horn